Ice Skating Rinks in Washington, D.C.

Why spend all your time exercising in a gym with humdrum workouts, when you can ice skate, a low-impact sport that’s fun and can enhance your fitness goals? While Washington, D.C., only has one indoor ice skating rink, there are other outdoor options during colder months. Outside, the views are better, the air is fresher and hot chocolate is the spot-on antidote for any chilly ice rink. If you’re not an expert, you can take lessons to attain higher levels of achievement at outside seasonal rinks or in the city’s singular indoor arena.

  1. Fort Dupont Ice Arena

    • Washington’s only year-round ice arena offers full figure-skating and hockey programs, public sessions and more. Fort Dupont Ice Arena is owned by the National Park Service, but in 1996, parents and arena friends started a nonprofit organization to manage the indoor rink when it was about to be closed. The new operation gave the arena a facelift and conceived a program of free lessons for disadvantaged kids to experience the three Olympic skating sports: figure skating, hockey and speed skating. The arena is closed from mid-March until the end of June for annual maintenance.

    National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink

    • On the National Mall near the Capitol, the National Gallery of Art not only displays a garden collection of modern eclectic sculptures, but offers seasonal ice skating as well. Each year, this well-known venue transforms the fountain into a frozen pond. For many, the rink is a seasonal tradition and justification for venturing out into the brisk air for family fun, a romantic date night, a group get-together or learn-to-skate class. The ice sheet is 135-feet-by-90-feet in a setting enhanced by the dominating National Archives building, with its classical Greek columns. The nearby Pavilion Cafe in the Sculpture Garden offers a lighter menu with hot chocolate and other beverages. The rink is open every day except December 25 and January 1, from mid-November to mid-March, weather permitting. For evening skating when the Gallery and Garden are closed, enter at Constitution Ave. and Madison Ave. near 9th St.

    Washington Harbour Ice Rink

    • An outdoor rink touted as bigger than the ice surface at New York’s Rockefeller Center, Washington Harbour Ice Rink changes from a pirouetting summer fountain to an icy oval in the winter. The modish rink, amid deluxe condos, restaurants and stylish shops, is located in Georgetown on the Potomac River waterfront. Skate seven days a week from November to March, or enhance your skating skills, choosing from various levels of skating instruction. For a different spin on happy hour, you can book a bundled-up corporate event or schedule an icy birthday party -- with a room to warm up in for eating cake, of course.

    Canal Park Ice Rink

    • Emulating European skating on frozen canals, Canal Park Ice Rink is open from mid-November through the first weekend in March. Skating traffic moves around loop islands at each end of the 10,000-square-foot seasonal rink. Among panoramic views of Canal Park, you can participate in basic skills classes, group events and public sessions, which emphasize the well being and fun of outdoor skating.